This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of the remarkable revival of monarchy in nineteenth-century Europe through a new prism: the public persona of the ‘Sailor Prince’. It highlights how four usually overlooked dynastic figures – the younger sons and brothers of monarchs such as Queen Victoria or Emperor William II – decisively helped to advertise their respective dynasties in the fiercely contested political and popular mass market, by aligning them with one of the most myth-invested cultural presences and power-political symbols of the Age of Empire: the navy.

The Clientele return in September with Music for the Age of Miracles, their first release of new music since 2010's Minotaur EP and their first album on Tapete Records. After The Clientele released Minotaur, Alasdair MacLean, singer and principal songwriter for the band, made two wonderful albums with Lupe Nunez-Fernandez as Amor de Dias, issued a Clientele best-of called Alone and Unreal, oversaw reissues of Suburban Light and Strange Geometry, and played shows solo or as part of Amor de Dias or The Clientele. He and Lupe have also been raising a family, so the prospect of a new Clientele record seemed to be diminishing.